Mercedes
Here is my opinion, it does not follow the general rules, but then I never have.
I like tinkering with things and enjoy challenge. I keep my equipment in good working order and am not overly concerned about how it looks. Mechanically , we make sure everything is OK, all the time.
A truck is simply a piece of machinery and needs to be maintained properly, if this is done correctly, the life span is only limited to technological advances that make the unit redundant.
We must be doing a pretty good job because we keep our trucks running for a long time.
Our oldest is a 1994 Pete 397 long nose, the easiest truck in North America to work on , plus it is very rugged, over engineered with most kinks removed decades ago.
Ours currently runs a 4306 electronic CAT, did the main bearings this summer, 4.4 million km's were pulled off the computer, first major repair since truck was bought used in 2001.
Now, we bought 2 Columbia's new with MBE4000's . One is a plain 2004 and the other is a EGR 2005.
Both were problematic in the beginning, The block of the 2004 was changed under warranty in 2006, the turbo has also been replaced since
The 2005 has cost a lot to repair the leaking head issue, but the problem is simply incompetent mechanics that did not know what they were doing.
The 2004, now has about 1.9 million km's and runs well, even with the air ride front end.
The 2005, has 1.7 million km's and runs great, just changed the fuel pump drive. We had replaced two heads that were leaking 3 times until one mechanic finally got it right. ( Had experience working with German diesels in Heavy off road equipment and cranes) .
We are in Mtl. and do not have a garage , the units are parked outside and simply plugged in. The freights always start even when the Caterpillar needs a boost. Use brake cleaner on the MBE's to start instead of Ether when cold.
Now that we know what to fix on the Freightliners they are a good truck.
I would buy one again with the MBE 4000 motors simply because of the fuel mileage. We are consistently running 2.9 km/l on the egr 2005 and 2.7km/l on the 2004. The Pete rarely gets better than 2.5km/l, but then it is not aerodynamic.
Other than that there is little that breaks on the Freight's.
Add to this that I have salaried drivers on board, they are not owner operators and they do not pamper the trucks.
When the trucks were new, we ran quite a bit with a company that had detroits in their units and they were much more problematic.
If I was looking for a new truck, I would look for a freight the an MBE 4000 with the lowest mileage that would not have a regen system, i do not know what year that would correspond to.
